Freud's ideas

Freud has been influential in two related but distinct ways. He simultaneously developed
a theory of how the human mind is organized and operates internally, and a theory of how
human behavior both conditions and results from this particular theoretical
understanding. This led him to favor certain clinical techniques for attempting to help
cure psychopathology. He theorized that personality is developed by the person's
childhood experiences

Innovations
Freud has been influential in two related, but distinct ways. He simultaneously developed
a theory of the human mind and human behavior, and clinical techniques for attempting to
help neurotics.

Early work
A lesser known interest of Freud's was neurology. He was an early researcher on the topic
of cerebral palsy, then known as "cerebral paralysis". He published several medical
papers on the topic. He also showed that the disease existed far before other researchers
in his day began to notice and study it. He also suggested that William Little, the man who
first identified cerebral palsy, was wrong about lack of oxygen during the birth process
being a cause. Instead, he suggested that complications in birth were only a symptom of
the problem. It was not until the 1980s that his speculations were confirmed by more
modern research.

Freud was an early user and proponent of cocaine as a stimulant. He wrote several articles
on the antidepressant qualities of the drug, and he was influenced by his friend and
confidant, Wilhelm Fliess, who recommended cocaine for the treatment of the "nasal reflex
neurosis." Fliess operated on Freud and a number of Freud's patients whom he believed
to be suffering from the disorder. Emma Eckstein underwent disastrous nasal surgery by
Fliess.

Freud felt that cocaine would work as a cure-all for many disorders, and wrote a well-
received paper, "On Coca", explaining its virtues. He prescribed it to his friend Ernst von
Fleischl-Marxow to help him beat a morphine addiction he had acquired while treating a
disease of the nervous system. Freud also recommended it to many of his close family
and friends. He narrowly missed out on obtaining scientific priority for discovering
cocaine's anesthetic properties (of which Freud was aware but on which he had not
written extensively), after Karl Koller, a colleague of Freud's in Vienna, presented a report
to a medical society in 1884 outlining the ways in which cocaine could be used for delicate
eye surgery.

Freud was bruised by this, especially because this would turn out to be one of the only
safe uses of cocaine, as reports of addiction and overdose began to filter in from many
places in the world. Freud's medical reputation became somewhat tarnished for his early
enthusiasm. Furthermore, Freud's friend Fleischl-Marxow developed an acute case of
"cocaine psychosis" as a result of Freud's prescriptions and died a few years later. Freud
felt great regret over these events, which later biographers have dubbed "The Cocaine
Incident".

Freud hoped that his research would provide a solid scientific basis for his therapeutic
technique. The goal of Freudian therapy, or psychoanalysis, was to bring to
consciousness repressed thoughts and feelings. According to some of his successors,
including his daughter Anna Freud, the goal of therapy is to allow the patient to develop a
stronger ego; according to others, notably Jacques Lacan, the goal of therapy is to lead
the analysand to a full acknowledgment of his or her inability to satisfy the most basic
desires.

Classically, the bringing of unconscious thoughts and feelings to consciousness is

brought about by encouraging the patient to talk in free association and to talk about
dreams. Another important element of psychoanalysis is a relative lack of direct
involvement on the part of the analyst, which is meant to encourage the patient to project
thoughts and feelings onto the analyst. Through this process, transference, the patient
can reenact and resolve repressed conflicts, especially childhood conflicts with (or about)
parents.

Abuse potential
Depending on the actual compound, drug abuse may lead to health problems, social
problems, physical dependence, or psychological addiction.

Some drugs that are subject to abuse have central nervous system (CNS) effects, which
produce changes in mood, levels of awareness or perceptions and sensations. Most of
these drugs also alter systems other than the CNS. But, not all centrally acting drugs are
subject to abuse, which suggests that altering consciousness is not sufficient for a drug to
have abuse potential. Among drugs that are abused, some appear to be more likely to lead
to uncontrolled use than others, suggesting a possible hierarchy of drug-induced effects
relative to abuse potential.[9]

Approaches to managing drug abuse

In addition to being a major public health problem, some consider drug abuse to be a
social problem with far-reaching implications. Stress, poverty, domestic and societal
violence, and various diseases (i.e., injecting drug users as a source for HIV/AIDS) are
sometimes thought to be spread by drug use. Studies have also shown that individuals
dependent on illicit drugs experience higher rates of comorbid psychiatric syndromes.
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